For GHMC sweeper, T. Suresh, it is definitely a second lease of life. It was his urge to buy a newspaper from a nearby store that saved his life, while his friend M. Balakrishna died on the spot and the fate of his two other friends is still unknown in the Hotel City Light building collapse incident.
A regular customer, Suresh along with his three friends went to the hotel to relish a cup of tea in the morning on Monday. As his three friends entered the hotel, Suresh went ahead towards a store to buy a newspaper.
“Suddenly there was a big sound. Initially, I thought it was a bomb blast as people ran helter-skelter. In a flash, dust engulfed the area and the hotel building was reduced to rubble,” recalled Suresh.
“I wanted to read a newspaper but had I been a minute early to the hotel, I would have been in tomorrow’s headlines,” he said.
Similarly, it was their presence of mind that saved the lives of Narender and Rahul Singh, waiters at the hotel. As usual Narender was attending to the customers and returned to the kitchen to collect a cup of tea. Even before he could deliver the tea to the customer, he heard a big sound from the kitchen end.
“Without losing a moment, I ran out of the hotel and the entire building collapsed right behind me. There was no time to help others as it all happened within seconds,” said Narender.
Sustain injures
Though his colleague, Rahul Singh managed to escape but sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Gandhi Hospital.
Singh was working in the kitchen and was heading towards the counter. On noticing that there was something wrong in the building he tried to run out of the hotel. But he was little late and sustained injuries in the abdomen after debris fell on him.
